How power-sharing includes and excludes non-dominant communities: Introduction to the special issue
| Author | Timofey Agarin,Allison McCulloch |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512119873075 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| Published date | 01 January 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Introduction |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512119873075
International Political Science Review
2020, Vol. 41(1) 3 –14
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512119873075
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How power-sharing includes
and excludes non-dominant
communities: Introduction
to the special issue
Timofey Agarin
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Allison McCulloch
Brandon University, Canada
Abstract
As the introduction to the special issue titled Democratisation in Divided Places: Designing Power-Sharing
Institutions for Broad Inclusion, this article situates the themes, issues, and findings of the issue in a broad
disciplinary perspective. Drawing from theories of constitutional design, peacebuilding, democratisation,
and ethnonational accommodation, the article outlines the trade-offs that power-sharing faces in war-to-
peace transitions and the implications for non-dominant groups. We articulate what we see as a central
problem with contemporary power-sharing arrangements, a phenomenon we call the ‘exclusion amid
inclusion’ dilemma. That is, for power-sharing to create stability and pacify the dominant groups, it must
marginalise non-dominant groups. These are groups who were neglected in the original design of power-
sharing institutions, who remain on the sidelines of postconflict politics, and who face major institutional
constraints on their representation and participation in the power-sharing arrangement. Using ‘exclusion
amid inclusion’ as an analytical lens, we explain how the articles included in the special issue highlight how
different societies have grappled with the question of facilitating broad inclusion in the design of political
power-sharing institutions.
Keywords
power-sharing, consociationalism, exclusion-amid-inclusion, war-to-peace, peace-to-democracy, inclusion,
exclusion
Corresponding author:
Timofey Agarin, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, BT7
1NN, UK.
Email: t.agarin@qub.ac.uk
873075IPS0010.1177/0192512119873075International Political Science ReviewAgarin and McCulloch
research-article2019
Special Issue Introduction
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